Analysis

Jon DonnisonBBC News, Ramallah

This is a historic day, said Palestinian deputy Minister of Antiquties Hamdan Taha, beaming from ear to ear in Ramallah.

Unesco membership may seem a strange and short step to Palestinian statehood. But leaders here see it as part of a broader push to get international recognition and pressure Israel. They see it as a warm-up for a more important vote next month when the UN Security Council will decide whether to admit Palestine as a full member state.

The US has veto power at the security council and has threatened to use it. It had no such power at Unesco so instead lobbied hard to try and force the Palestinians to back down. It will likely cut all US funding for Unesco - $70m a year, or 22% of its annual budget.

But Unesco members seemed to put politics before money, clearly voting in favour of the Palestinian bid. This was a failure of US power, one Palestinian official told me.

The victory will give a boost to the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He lost ground to his rival Hamas when the Islamist movement secured the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit two weeks ago.

Membership of Unesco - perhaps best known for its World Heritage Sites - may seem a strange step towards statehood, says the BBC's Jon Donnison, in Ramallah, but Palestinian leaders see it as part of a broader push to get international recognition and put pressure on Israel.

This is the first UN agency the Palestinians have sought to join since submitting their bid for recognition to the Security Council in September.

"This vote will erase a tiny part of the injustice done to the Palestinian people," Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki told the meeting of the UN educational, scientific and cultural organisation in Paris, after the result was announced.

Widespread applause greeted the result of Monday's vote in the chamber, where a two-thirds majority is enough to pass a decision.

The BBC's David Chazan in Paris, where Unesco has its headquarters, says Arab states were instrumental in getting the vote passed despite intense opposition from the US.

He says that in an emotional session, China, Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa voted in favour of Palestinian membership, while the US, Canada and Germany voted against and the UK abstained.

'No shortcuts'

A US law passed in the 1990s allows Washington to cut funding to any UN body that admits Palestine as a full member.

"We were to have made a $60m payment to Unesco in November and we will not be making that payment," state department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told journalists in Washington.

Unesco Key Facts

Aims to encourage international peace and eradicate poverty by collaboration among nations via education, the sciences, culture, communication and information

More than 2,000 staff from 170 states

Budget for 2010 and 2011 was $643m (£401m), contributed by member states

General conference - Unesco's primary decision-making body, comprising all member-states - meets every two years

Executive board of 58 member-states meets twice a year

Earlier, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the Unesco vote was "premature and undermines the international community's shared goal of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East", while US ambassador to Unesco David Killion said it would "complicate our ability to support Unesco's programmes."

Israel called the vote a "unilateral Palestinian manoeuvre which will bring no change on the ground but further removes the possibility for a peace agreement".

"The Palestinian move at Unesco, as with similar such steps with other UN bodies, is tantamount to a rejection of the international community's efforts to advance the peace process," a foreign ministry statement said.

Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been stalled since last year over the issue of Israeli settlement building.

The Israeli statement also said Israel would be considering further steps regarding its co-operation with Unesco.

Palestinian UN Statehood Bid

Palestinians currently have permanent observer entity status at the UN

They are represented by the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO)

Officials now want an upgrade so a state of Palestine has full member status at the UN

They seek recognition on 1967 borders - in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza

Enhanced observer member status could be an interim option

Correspondents say Monday's vote is a symbolic breakthrough but that on its own it will not create a Palestinian state.

A vote is expected in November at the UN Security Council on granting full membership of the UN to the Palestinians. The US has threatened to use its veto.

No member has a right of veto in Unesco, where each representative has one vote irrespective of a country's size or budget contribution.

Unesco - like other UN agencies - is a part of the world body but has separate membership procedures and can make its own decisions about which countries belong. Full UN membership is not required for membership in many UN agencies, the Associated Press reports.

The US boycotted Unesco for almost two decades from 1984 for what the state department said was a "growing disparity between US foreign policy and Unesco goals".

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